Marksmanship Hunter is a physical ranged DPS specialization that scales extremely well with high-end gear, especially Armor Penetration, Agility and weapon damage. Its damage comes from a combination of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot and strong execute pressure from Kill Shot, while trap weaving adds another source of damage when encounter positioning allows it.
1. Talents
Hunter Talents (WotLK)Beast Mastery7 points
Marksmanship55 points
Survival9 points
2. Glyphs
Major Glyphs
Minor Glyphs
3. Stats
Hit: 170(5%) from gear and 3% from Focused Aim (8%)
Arp: 1400
Crit: ~55%
4. Enchants
- Head: Arcanum of Torment
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
- Back: Flexweave Underlay / Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed
- Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats
- Wrists: Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault
- Hands: Hyperspeed Accelerators
- Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle
- Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
- Feet: Nitro Boosts
- Main hand: Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre / Scroll of Enchant 2H Weapon - Scourgebane
- Ranged: Heartseeker Scope
5. Gems
Meta gem: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
Red gems: Fractured Cardinal Ruby / Delicate Cardinal Ruby
Yellow gems: Delicate Cardinal Ruby / Rigid King's Amber / Deadly Ametrine
Blue gems: Nightmare Tear
6. BIS
Marksmanship PVE
7. Macros
8. Food and flasks
Food: Fish Feast / Blackened Dragonfin
Pet food: Spiced Mammoth Treats
Flask: Flask of Endless Rage
Potion: 1–2 seconds before the pull, use a Potion of Speed. Use your next Potion of Speed with a trinket proc.
9. Professions
Priority list:
10. Pet
Only wolf
Pet Talents (WotLK)Ferocity16 points
Tenacity0 points
Cunning0 points
Stats and gearing
Reach 5% Hit from gear together with 3% from Focused Aim to reach the 8% ranged Hit requirement against raid bosses. Missing an important Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot or Kill Shot is a direct damage loss, so Hit should be secured before optimizing the rest of the gear.
Armor Penetration becomes extremely powerful for Marksmanship because most of its important damage is physical. At high-end gear, 1400 Armor Penetration Rating reaches the 100% passive ArP cap and significantly increases Auto Shot, Aimed Shot, Steady Shot and other physical damage.
Agility remains a strong stat because it provides Ranged Attack Power and Critical Strike. Once the Hit and Armor Penetration targets are covered, Agility and strong overall itemization remain valuable rather than sacrificing major stats simply to increase one secondary stat further.
Around 55% Critical Strike represents a strong endgame level for this build. Crit scales especially well with Marksmanship's heavy physical shots and improves the value of its high-damage burst windows.
Haste has comparatively low priority. It increases Auto Shot frequency and reduces Steady Shot cast time, but it does not improve the cooldowns of Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot or Kill Shot.
Single-target priority
Apply Serpent Sting at the start of the fight and keep it active through Chimera Shot. Chimera Shot refreshes Serpent Sting, so there is normally no need to manually reapply the sting as long as Chimera Shot continues landing on the same target.
Chimera Shot is one of the highest-priority shots and should be used as soon as it becomes available.
Aimed Shot follows as another strong instant physical attack. Because it does not require a cast time in WotLK, it fits naturally between Chimera Shot cooldowns without interrupting movement.
Steady Shot fills the gaps while Chimera Shot and Aimed Shot are unavailable. It should not delay higher-priority shots simply to complete another cast.
At high Armor Penetration levels, Arcane Shot loses value because it deals Arcane damage and does not benefit from ArP. In a 1400 ArP setup, it can normally be removed from the regular single-target priority.
Serpent Sting and Chimera Shot
Serpent Sting is more important to Marksmanship than its own periodic damage suggests.
Chimera Shot interacts directly with the active sting and refreshes its duration, allowing one initial Serpent Sting to remain active throughout a long boss fight without repeated manual applications.
If Serpent Sting drops because of target switching, immunity or missed timing, reapply it before the next Chimera Shot so the ability receives its full benefit.
Do not refresh Serpent Sting manually while it is already being maintained correctly through Chimera Shot. Those unnecessary globals are better spent on direct damage abilities.
Trap weaving
Explosive Trap can add substantial damage when you can safely reach the boss's trigger area without losing too much ranged uptime.
Glyph of Explosive Trap allows the periodic damage from Explosive Trap to critically strike, making successful trap weaving considerably more rewarding.
Move into trap range only when encounter mechanics allow it. Dropping a trap is not worth the damage if reaching the boss causes you to miss Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot or several ranged attacks.
Boss hitboxes also matter. Explosive Trap must actually trigger under the target, so learn the correct placement for each encounter instead of assuming the visual model matches the trap trigger area.
When a fight allows pre-positioning, an Explosive Trap can sometimes be placed before combat begins so its damage starts immediately without costing as much early ranged uptime.
Kill Shot and execute phase
Kill Shot becomes available below 20% target health and takes top priority during the execute phase because of its extremely high damage.
Glyph of Kill Shot reduces the cooldown when Kill Shot fails to kill the target, allowing additional execute casts during the final portion of a boss fight.
Watch the target's health closely as it approaches 20%. Delaying the first Kill Shot because you are finishing a low-priority Steady Shot wastes one of Marksmanship's strongest damage opportunities.
Continue using Chimera Shot and Aimed Shot between Kill Shot casts rather than abandoning the normal priority entirely during execute.
Steady Shot
Steady Shot is the primary filler when stronger abilities are unavailable.
Glyph of Steady Shot increases its damage while Serpent Sting is active on the target. Because Chimera Shot continuously refreshes Serpent Sting, the glyph receives reliable value throughout sustained single-target combat.
The purpose of Steady Shot is to fill otherwise empty time. If Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot or Kill Shot becomes available, use the higher-priority ability rather than delaying it to finish an unnecessary additional Steady Shot.
With sufficient Haste, more Steady Shot casts can fit between major cooldowns, but Haste should not be stacked simply to force an extra filler cast.
Rapid Fire and Readiness
Rapid Fire provides a large temporary increase to ranged attack speed and is strongest when you can remain on the target for its full duration.
Combine it with Potion of Speed, Hyperspeed Accelerators, trinket procs and Bloodlust/Heroism when encounter timing makes that practical.
Readiness resets several important Hunter cooldowns and can be used to create a powerful opening burst. After activating your initial cooldowns and high-priority shots, Readiness allows another Chimera Shot and Aimed Shot much sooner than their normal cooldowns would allow.
When trap weaving, Readiness can also support additional Explosive Trap usage, but do not sacrifice more important shot timing or positioning simply to force an extra trap.
Movement
Hunter damage remains relatively mobile because Chimera Shot and Aimed Shot are instant, but Steady Shot still requires you to stop and cast.
Use movement periods for instant abilities whenever possible. Chimera Shot, Aimed Shot, Kill Shot and other instant actions can reduce the amount of completely empty movement time.
Plan longer repositioning around Steady Shot windows rather than beginning to move immediately after Chimera Shot comes off cooldown.
Disengage can quickly reposition you when encounter mechanics require a large movement. Nitro Boosts provide another way to reduce downtime when Engineering is available.
AoE and cleave
Explosive Trap is a major part of Marksmanship AoE when enemies remain inside its area.
Multi-Shot is useful against a small number of targets and provides immediate ranged cleave without requiring you to channel.
Against larger groups, Volley becomes the main sustained AoE option after Explosive Trap has been placed. Volley scales with Attack Power and performs particularly well when several enemies remain stacked.
Do not spend time running into melee range for Explosive Trap if the pack will die before the trap provides enough damage to compensate for lost ranged attacks.
Pet
Wolf is the preferred raid pet because Furious Howl provides a temporary Attack Power increase to both the Hunter and the pet.
Keep the pet attacking whenever encounter mechanics allow it, but move it away from lethal mechanics rather than allowing it to die unnecessarily.
Furious Howl can contribute additional damage during offensive windows, so keeping the Wolf alive for the full encounter matters more than squeezing out a few extra pet attacks during dangerous mechanics.
Spiced Mammoth Treats provide additional pet damage and fit naturally into a raid setup where the Wolf contributes throughout the fight.
Mana management
Marksmanship can consume Mana quickly during sustained combat, especially when trap weaving or using expensive abilities aggressively.
Aspect of the Viper restores Mana but reduces your damage while active. Switch into it when necessary during lower-value periods, then return to Aspect of the Dragonhawk as soon as enough Mana has been recovered.
Avoid remaining in Aspect of the Viper longer than required.
If a target with Mana is available, Viper Sting combined with Chimera Shot can provide additional Mana recovery in situations where sustaining your normal damage rotation becomes difficult.
Cooldowns and consumables
Flask of Endless Rage provides consistent Attack Power throughout the encounter, while Fish Feast or Blackened Dragonfin provide useful offensive food bonuses.
Potion of Speed can be used immediately before the pull so another potion becomes available later in the encounter. The second potion is most valuable during a strong damage window with trinket procs, Rapid Fire, Hyperspeed Accelerators or Bloodlust/Heroism.
Engineering is especially effective for Marksmanship because Hyperspeed Accelerators support burst windows and Nitro Boosts reduce time lost to movement.
The strongest cooldown window is one where you can remain stationary or move only through instant shots while continuing to attack the correct target. Avoid committing Rapid Fire, Potion of Speed and other temporary bonuses immediately before forced downtime.
